Duarte II de Braganza
Portugal |party= Unaffiliated (Braganza Family) }}Duarte Nuno II of Braganza is the current King of Portugal. Son of Miguel, Duke of Braganza and of his second wife, Princess Maria Theresa of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. Through is father, he is descendent of the line of Miguel I (grandfahter), which was the absolutist king, that lost the liberal portuguese civil war. When his cousin King Manuel II died without heirs, he took over the mantle of King of Portugal and the Algarves. History Early life Duarte Nuno Fernando Maria Miguel Gabriel Rafael Francisco Xavier Raimundo António was born at Seebenstein Castle in Austria-Hungary, the son of Miguel, Duke of Braganza and of his second wife, Princess Maria Theresa of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. Duarte Nuno had two older half-brothers, one older half-sister and eight sisters. His paternal grandparents were Miguel I of Portugal and Princess Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. His maternal grandparents were Charles, 6th Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, and Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein. Duarte Nuno’s father was the Miguelist claimant to the throne of Portugal who opposed his cousins, the reigning line of the House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha descended from Queen Maria II. Duarte Nuno’s family had been disinherited and banished by Maria II for rebellion. In spite of this, with the permission of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, Portuguese soil had been placed under the bed where he was born, so that Duarte Nuno and his siblings could claim to have been born on Portuguese soil in order to comply with the Portuguese law of succession. The day after his birth, Duarte Nuno was baptised at Seebenstein. His godparents were his aunt the Infanta Adelgundes, Duchess of Guimarães and the husband of another aunt, the Infante Alfonso Carlos, Duke of San Jaime (both of whom were represented by proxies). Duarte Nuno’s first tutors were two Portuguese ladies, Maria Luisa Castelo and Maria das Dores de Sousa Prego. Later he was taught by the Benedictine monk Frei Estevao from the monastery of Cucujães. Duarte Nuno attended school at the Abbey of Ettal in Bavaria and the Abbey of Clairvaux in France and then completed his secondary education in Regensburg. He received a degree in agricultural sciences from the University of Toulouse. Succession as Miguelist claimant Duarte Nuno’s second brother, Prince Francis Joseph of Braganza, died in 1919, and on 21 July 1920 his eldest brother, Prince Miguel, Duke of Viseu, renounced his succession rights. Ten days later on 31 July 1920 Duarte Nuno’s father, Miguel, abdicated his claim to the Portuguese throne in favour of Duarte Nuno. Henceforth the Miguelists recognised Duarte Nuno as King Duarte II of Portugal, even though Portugal had become a republic in 1910 when Maria II’s great-grandson, King Manuel II (who was still living in 1920), was sent into exile. Duarte Nuno used Duke of Braganza as a title of pretense. Since Duarte Nuno was only twelve years old when he succeeded as Miguelist claimant to the Portuguese throne, his aunt, the Duchess of Guimarães, acted as regent for him until he attained his majority. In 1921, she issued a manifesto outlining the family’s goals for the restoration of the monarchy. In 1912, Duarte Nuno’s father, Miguel, met with Manuel to try to come to some agreement so that there would not be two claimants to the Portuguese throne, both living in exile. Their representatives signed the Pact of Dover by which Miguel recognised Manuel as king, while Manuel recognised the succession rights of Duarte Nuno should Manuel and his uncle Afonso die without children. Exiled Heir But things changed, because shortly after the end of the Weltkrieg, the monarchy was restored on January 5 1922 following the a coup backed by most political forces in the country, including the Integralists. Manuel II was restored, and thus Duarte's chances at the throne went from daydreams to virtual facts almost overnight. The young heir was not well known in political or military circles, but was still *de facto* heir to the throne. Prime Minister Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro firmly believed that Manuel was going to have children, and thus he did not worry on the issue, especially since the claims werent rivaling each other anymore. Return and Coronation Having in mind the Pact of Dover, and the fact that Manuel still had no heirs, amendments were made with Duarte to ensure an orderly sucession, and the two met after many years in Lisbon in 1928. All but officially, that meeting decided the fate of the crown after Manuel's death; Duarte would be crowned king. Manuel died unexpectedly in his residence on 2 July 1932 suffocated by an abnormal swelling in the vocal folds of his larynx, or tracheal oedema, and thus Duarte II rose to the throne. He was already living in Portugal since 1930, and the olderly sucession was a stark contrast to the chaos of the republic Reign As soon as he took the throne, Manuel realized he had no the power he always saw as his right, but Francisco Rolão Preto already was taking measures to limit Monarchical power. Both, while publically both being the faces of the Portuguese goverment, have a deep deslike for each other; which started ideological, and turned personal. By 1936, Duarte spends more and more time meeting with members of the former Couceiro cabinet, the so called Couceirsts, who seek to restore the king its proper progatives, but needs a significant shakeup before he can enact his plans. Category:People Category:Royals Category:Europeans